Monday, May 11, 2015

Suicide Prevention in Tennessee Gun Shops

The Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network is targeting gun shops as
part of its public awareness campaign to try to prevent deaths.

An
example is a poster on display in a Memphis gun store noting that
suicides in Tennessee far outnumber homicides, and firearms are the
leading method, The Commercial Appeal (http://bit.ly/1RrFVxk) reported.
The sign lists a crisis hotline.

Will Bass, the gun shop's general
manager, said it's good to have anti-suicide messages posted in the
shop, just in case a customer is thinking about ending his or her own
life. "To hopefully get them thinking 'Maybe this isn't the best
option,'" Bass said.

Each year, hundreds of people in Tennessee
use guns to kill themselves. Existing laws won't necessarily stop people
with mental illnesses or suicidal intent from buying weapons, but the
Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network's Gun Safety Project is trying to
prevent deaths through the public awareness campaign that targets gun
stores and gun ranges. The network is a public-private partnership
associated with the state government.

Don't know if I'd suggest a conspiracy Mike. Maybe the author was just itching to be able to use targeting in the article. All I did was go to the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network website and they were quite up front with it being a cooperative effort between them and range and gun store owners. Whatever the reason for not mentioning it, it suggests (to me at least) a less cooperative relationship than what is actually occurring, which in the long run doesn't help. The gun control industry likes to portray gun dealers as being motivated only by profit and this type of cooperation suggests otherwise.

"Ralph Demicco has watched the surveillance footage of a man shopping around his store, leaning on the counter and calmly chatting with the clerk before buying the gun he used to take his own life later that day. The man was one of three people, who in the span of a week purchased firearms from Demicco’s gun shop and used them to commit suicide. “I was devastated,” Demicco recalled. “At the time, I remember saying over and over, ‘I just can’t believe it.’”

"Since the string of suicides in 2009, Demicco has joined forces with health professionals and gun dealers in a campaign to help gun stores and firing ranges learn ways to avoid selling or renting a firearm to a suicidal person. The campaign, known as The Gun Shop Project, also encourages gun businesses to share suicide prevention materials with customers."

"Demicco said his shop has sent people away “madder than hoot owls” when he wouldn’t sell them a weapon, but he doesn’t recall any formal allegations of discrimination. He said most denials are because a person lacks basic firearm knowledge, but others were denied because something about them gave him or his employees pause. Demicco said his workers were never under any pressure to make sales, but taking on the project has helped his business make better decisions."

Jade, my soldiers call me old, and a few here have used the other label that seems so loved in the gun control world, but I don't recall ever having made a statement like that. And of course, the question being what can be done to reduce suicides. In this case, there is a cooperative effort to increase awareness. Something I don't think you'll find anyone here having a problem with.

Actually, hen it is suggested that easy gun availability leads to more suicides, the gunloons invariably counter that 1. shouldn't people be free to commit suicide and/or 2. if there were no guns, people would find some other way to kill themselves.

Of course, this runs counter to the unanimous medical opinion that suicide is largely impulse-driven. That is, most people who attempt suicide are driven by a temporary impulse rather than a rigid, fixed determination to kill themselves.